Is Mitt Romney Pandering For Votes?

Compiled by Newsbyrd Staff –

(June 27, 2012) Mitt Romney’s overall position on the environment is the perfect case study for opponents of the two-party political system. It is also why many are skeptical of his real beliefs, even some staunch republicans, who viewed him as a moderate during his tenure as Governor.

Today, on almost a daily bases the presidential hopeful pounds the message that Obamacare is an infringement of human rights and a move toward a socialist state. Just a few years ago he fought hard and successfully to install an almost identical program in Massachusetts.

Today, he sides with the party in his message about climate science and global warming as an unproven science where human activity is concerned… at best!

It might surprise many that when Mitt Romney was governor his stance on environmental issues was quite different from what he preaches on the pulpit of today’s Presidential campaign.

“We thought his record in Massachusetts was quite good,” said David Jenkins, vice president of ConservAmerica, a Republican environmental group, who added that he had found some of Romney’s more recent statements worrisome.

Earlier this year during the bid for the GOP nominee, both Jon Hunsman and Ron Paul went against the party grain on several issues, which didn’t win them favor in the ever-far-right reaching GOP. And because of our two-party system, political pundits were quick to dismiss both Huntsman and Paul, because of their non-conformist views.

Today it seems that Mitt Romney has figured it all out! The pathway to the Oval Office can only be found by pandering to one of two parties.

Last week, the LA Times did a story entitled, “Mitt Romney Worked to Combat Climate Change as Governor.” Here are some excerpts:

During his first 18 months as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney spent considerable time hammering out a sweeping climate change plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

As staff briefed him on possible measures and environmentalists pressed him to act, Romney frequently repeated a central thought, people at those meetings said: That climate change is occurring, that the United States has the resources to handle its vast impact but that low-lying poor countries like Bangladesh would suffer greatly.

“It was like a mantra with him,” said a person who attended those meetings who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic. “His Cabinet members would look at him like, ‘What?’ He was the radical in the room.”

Before doing an about-face toward the end of his term as he began to prepare for his first run for president, Romney pushed to close old coal-fired plants, encourage the development of renewable energy and contain sprawl — steps similar to some President Obama has taken.

… Among the handful of issues Romney focused on as governor, in fact, was climate change. “We probably spent more time discussing climate change than anything else,” said Douglas Foy, Romney’s former “supersecretary” who oversaw environmental, energy, transportation and housing policy.

Foy’s appointment by a pro-business Republican like Romney heartened environmentalists, who had eyed the new governor skeptically at first. Foy was the chief executive of the Conservation Law Foundation and known for his aggressive stance against polluters. Romney chose him to foster economic development with a close eye on the environment.

… “He’s sort of been all over the map on many of these issues, and clearly there’s always a concern that we won’t get the market-based energy policies we’d want,” said Wayne Brough, chief economist with FreedomWorks, a tea party group. “The way you resolve those concerns about his past is for him to hear our activism, to hear from the tea party, ‘This is where we want to go.’ ”

The Romney campaign says there is no contradiction between what he says on the stump now and what he did as Massachusetts governor, from 2003 through early 2007.

Editor note:I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but in the event that Mitt Romney is elected President, I hope that ‘pandering for votes’ is his excuse and that he settles into the office with a more moderate, eco-friendly position.